


Mosaic Hearts

by fightforyourwrite



Category: Batman (Comics), DCU (Comics)
Genre: Affection, Bed Cuddles, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Established Relationship, F/M, Nightmares, TimSteph
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-11
Updated: 2015-04-11
Packaged: 2018-03-22 07:11:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,628
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3719836
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fightforyourwrite/pseuds/fightforyourwrite
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In an odd way, they found each other once more after falling apart. It wasn’t a matter of starting again on the holy grounds of their past, but rather, picking up the pieces of their broken devotion and hoping that an artist, or someone, could create some sort of mosaic masterpiece out of the mess.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Mosaic Hearts

**Author's Note:**

> So I'm kind of falling back into TimSteph and Batfam drabbles. Hope you like this one shot. It's definitely in the canon verse, but with the whole addition of Tim and Stephanie being together again added in.

Tim knew he could be himself around her. More specifically, the more true and undoubtable version of himself. To the Gotham tabloids, he was Timothy Drake-Wayne, heir to the Wayne fortune Bruce’s trusted ward. To the Gotham streets, he was Red Robin, vigilante of the night and Doctor Mid-Nite’s stunt double. But to Stephanie Brown, Tim was Tim.

Nerdy, dorky and brilliant Tim. 

Stephanie would never let him be anything else when he was with her, because someone who spent as much time with Tim as her could see through his a ruse if he made one like it was glass. The version of Tim she fell in love with as a mere 15 year old was the only version of Tim she wanted.

She didn’t pursue Alvin Draper or any of that Drake-Wayne nonsense; whom she wanted was Timothy Jackson Drake, and whom she got was exactly that. 

In an odd way, they found each other once more after falling apart. It wasn’t a matter of starting again on the holy grounds of their past, but rather, picking up the pieces of their broken devotion and hoping that an artist, or someone, could create some sort of mosaic masterpiece out of the mess. They couldn’t pretend that everything was still okay between the two of them before kissing and making up. Their pasts and presents would always mean something to one another, no matter what. 

At first, they were kids. Secondly, they were friends. Thirdly, they were lovers. Fourthly, they were ex-lovers. And after that, everything just ceased. 

Stephanie died knowing that no one would save her, and Tim lived on wondering whether he could have done everything about it. In the past, when he was at the tipping point of everything he could handle, Tim would turn to Stephanie to keep him sane.

But when she was gone, he didn’t know who he could run to.

There was Dick, Cass, Alfred, Babs, Cassie, and even Bruce himself, but he wondered if it would truly be the same as Stephanie. Tim checked when he mourned, and he soon discovered that it wasn’t. 

The only person Tim wanted to talk about Stephanie’s death with was Stephanie, no one else. At a tipping point with no one else to speak to, Tim secluded himself underneath his work, just like Batman would.

And then, Stephanie came back. At first, Tim was under the impression that someone was impersonating her as Spoiler, and it almost felt like an insult that they would play with his emotions like that. Stephanie was on his long list of people to lose, and how dare someone be so sick as to take advantage of that. 

But when he found out the Spoiler impersonator was her, Tim was overjoyed. And for a brief moment, they became lovers once again. 

But then Bruce died and Tim’s world fell apart again. He asked himself if he reacted worse to Bruce’s death than he did with anyone else's, but every time he went into that territory of his thoughts, Tim got angry at himself. Judging his amounts of grief was pointless, and no matter how much he thought about it, it wouldn’t improve anything at all.

It would only be afterwards that Tim would hit himself for alienating all of his friends during that time. Not just Stephanie, but Cassie, Dick, Bart, everyone. 

They did believe his theory of Bruce Wayne being alive at the end of the day, but by then, Tim’s relationships had grown thin. 

He and Stephanie weren’t lovers anymore. They weren’t even friends either. They had changed so much over their time apart; Tim having traded his domino mask for an earless cowl, and Stephanie having retired the Spoiler costume for good to carry on Cass and Babs’s legacy. 

At that point, because they weren’t friends or lovers, Tim and Stephanie were strangers. But a good kind strangers who’s hearts would race every time their paths crossed.

The racing of heart beats was piece one on their attempts to rebuild their relationship. Piece two was nightly patrol sessions shared between Red Robin and Batgirl. Piece three was the offering of help whenever Stephanie or Tim had a case or lead that was giving them trouble. Piece four became the subtle touches they gave to each other here and there; Tim placing his hand on Stephanie’s shoulder, or Stephanie holding Tim from behind as he stared at another computer monitor. 

And now, they were on piece five; comforting each other. 

Lying in bed with Stephanie reminded Tim of their younger days together, when all they had was each other, their words and the Brown household’s sofa. They laid on their sides, faces towards each other and blankets draped over the two of them. 

Stephanie was warmer than Tim remembered. It had been a while, much too long, and he felt good when he laid close to her.

His eyes were closed, as were hers, and their breaths were as serene as their heartbeats. 

Tim missed this, all of it. He missed Stephanie; her voice as it took the room and her presence as it demanded all attention. He missed her touches, kisses, smiles, and he only realized how much her absence bothered him in recent times.

He was right back then about needing Stephanie to stay sane, and he would be right at the presence if he said the exact same thing. 

His life only got harder with time. Bruce was alive, Kon was alive, and of course, Stephanie was alive, but during the time where he thought all of them were dead, Tim’s life had progressed down a darker path. 

Tim started to transition into the exact person he refused to ever be; Batman. He became darker, more brooding, more determined. Scars ran deep inside his body and soul, and as a result, an emblem of a Bat was just waiting to be stamped onto his chest. 

Stephanie wasn’t just someone who would keep him sane, but someone who could keep him bright. Not cheery or bubbly, but anything but dark. 

He needed to be that way, or else he would turn into someone who he would never become. 

Tim needed her touches to remind him that he was human, he needed her affection to remind him that it was ok to feel, and he needed her embrace to know that everything would somehow be okay.

The room was dark, the curtains closed and the costumes of Red Robin and Batgirl laid to the side. 

At one point in the night, when he Tim opened his eyes, it wasn’t slow or steady; it was hasty and desperate. 

Feeling like his eyes were almost bulging out of his head, there were visions of nightmares scattered in the corners of his mind. He knew it was all a dream and that not a single fibre of it was real, but it felt like so much more.

For a heart-pumping moment, Tim saw bloodshed, horror, brutality and war. His breathing was hasty and his heart could have burst out of his chest at any moment. 

Struggling to catch his breaths, Tim sat up on the bed in cold sweat. Hyperventilating in his state, he looked forward for a few moments before glancing to the side.

For once in his life, he was thanking god. Stephanie was there; asleep in her own world, but there. 

“Oh god, Steph…” Tim said through his stutters. “Steph…”

“Hm…” came the familiar voice of the Brown girl. “… Tim?”

“I…” Tim started. He was still hyperventilating. “Oh… oh god…”

One of Stephanie’s eyes opened to peep up at her panicked lover. Noting his state, she sat up on the bed as well, blankets draped over her. 

“Tim? What’s wrong?” 

“I…” Tim struggled, looking at her with worry and relief laced in his gave. “You…” 

“What happened?” Stephanie asked, more determined to know what was wrong this time. 

“Nightmare,” Tim finally managed to say. “I was having a nightmare. And you…”

“… died?” Stephanie guessed with undeniable accuracy. 

Tim could only nod his head.

She didn’t know what to say. Though, she had an idea on a few probably words, but she feared that she would make things worse. “It was just a dream, Tim. Don’t worry. I’m not going anywhere.”

“I… I…” He was stuttering again. Why was any of this so hard for him? “I’m sorry for waking you up,” he decided to say.

Stephanie took his hand, “It’s okay, Tim. _I’m_ okay.” With his hand in hers, she held him tightly, lifting his tightened fist up to brush her lips against his white knuckles.

His breathing was slowing down gradually, each breath pacing itself gently. 

“Come here,” Stephanie said. She opened her arms up to her lover and wrapped them around his form to pull him into her embrace. She held him in a state of grace for a few seconds of silence, the only sounds being heard was his beating heart and hers. 

Stephanie pulled him back down onto the bed, and back down to earth. She held him as he laid in her arms, the room being quiet and her compassionate need to comfort him keeping them together.

“It’s going to be ok. Don’t worry,” Stephanie whispered to him.

“I…” Tim started, unsure how to continue. He didn’t know what he wanted to say. All he knew was that for a moment in the past, he was dreaming about losing a lover of his that was his fine line between sanity and madness. 

And on this moment now, Tim was basking in the embrace of a stranger who’s heart would always find that it could beat with his. Sleep came back to him in moments, just like Stephanie had with him.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Did you like it? Mind telling me what you think?


End file.
